THE NEIGHBORHOOD: Parkview or Mid-City? It's Parkview, technically. But don't try telling that to Mid-City residents, who claim the area as their own. The fact is that the name of the narrow sliver of land between Orleans Avenue (north) and Lafitte Avenue (south) is part of the Parkview Historic District.

It's bounded by North Rocheblave Street on the east, then widens west of Bayou St. John. Adjacent to Mid-City and with a similar architectural mix, Parkview was not included in Mid-City's boundaries when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. Just two years later, in 1995, a new survey was completed and Parkview was designated as its own district. Both the western end of Mid-City and Parkview were developed in the late 19th century and early 20th century and are characterized by a mix of shotguns, raised-basement houses and other types, in styles including neo-Classical revival, Arts and Crafts and Mediterranean Revival. The bayou serves as a fishing hole, paddling venue and prime picnic spot for all New Orleanians, not only Mid-City/Parkview residents. Walkers, joggers and cyclists ply the paths alongside its glittering waters daily, even in the hottest months. Nearby is the American Can complex, with its retail outlets and Thursday market, and the Parkway Bakery and Tavern, a neighborhood favorite.

The 10 shotgun doubles in the 600 block of North Hagan Avenue probably were built at the same time. Rather than make them identical, the builder mixed and matched a palette of roof line styles, window types and gable configurations to create a harmonious but lively look.

THE BLOCK: There are 520 shotgun houses in Parkview, according to the register, and 10 of them can be found in the 600 block of North Hagan Avenue, between St. Peter Street on the north and Toulouse Street on the south. The doubles are on the even-numbered, or south, side of the street, facing the bayou. With few buildings across from them, the views from their front stoops across the bayou are almost unobstructed.

THE HOUSES: A row of 10 shotgun doubles that appear to have been built at the same time, probably in the early years of the 20th century, judging by their blend of Neo-Classical Revival and New Orleans-style brackets. The builder could have made them identical -- two doors, two windows, the same roof line -- but instead chose to mix and match a palette of elements to create a harmonious but animated composition. Roof lines, window types and gable configurations vary from one end of the block to the other, but the uniform size, scale, foundation treatment and roof material tie the block together.

I walk along Bayou St. John, scoping out the locale of Mid-City's Bayou Boogaloo festival, when I experience a striking vision. With my back to the post office, I look across the bayou to the row of shotgun houses in the 600 block of North Hagan. You know the ones, right? The ones with the metal roofs?

I've seen them a million times before (from the car, of course) but they've never looked quite as beautiful as they do on this day, from this vantage point, with the glittering water of the bayou in the foreground.

Soon, a Street Walk, starting on the shore of the bayou and moving to the sidewalk, is under way.

Anatomy of the block

I study the block from a distance, identifying patterns and repeated elements. Every one of the houses is about the same size and scale, each has two doors -- one on the right and one on the left -- with two short windows in the middle. And every one has a set of five handsome milled brackets under the front overhang.

But I note that roof lines vary from one house to another. There are four with front gables, three with hipped roofs and three more with clipped gables, a flat area rather than a peak of the triangle. Some have dormers, some do not. All appear to have gable windows of some kind. though they are covered on a couple of the houses.

I cross the Orleans Avenue bridge for a closer look and start with the house at the corner of St. Peter. I see right away that most of the doubles have doors with squared tops, but this one -- and its twin at the opposite end of the block -- has doors with rounded tops, just like its windows. They both have stucco rather than wood in the gables and gable windows encompassing many small panes of stained glass.

The green house next door has flat-top windows and doors, with a hipped roof and dormer set with low, wide windows. Elements from the first two houses on the block combine in the third house, which has flat-top doors but rounded-top windows, a clipped gable and a low, wide gable window like the one to the left.

And so it continues all the way to Toulouse Street. Flat-topped doors and windows with a gable front on one house, flat-topped doors with rounded windows and a clipped gable on the next. The elements, it seems, can be put together in every imaginable combination, and yet the houses remain in perfect harmony.

Life on the street

Vida Manuel and Frank Douglass sit across the street from the row of shotgun houses, looking at paint chips and engaging in a spirited debate. In the background, a house has risen on tall pilings and is on its way to completion.

"Come tell us what you think of these colors," Manuel calls to me.

I give a thumbs-up to the salmon color for the body, cream for the trim and dark green for the shutters.

"And Frank thinks this color should go on the sash but I don't know," Manuel says. "I don't want it too bright."

I like the lime green, I say, and think it will add the perfect spark. Just then a man sticks his head out of the brick building that serves as Manuel's home while her new house is under construction.

"Hey Frank!" Manuel's partner, Musa, calls out. "You want pancakes?"

Not wanting to intrude on a pancake party, I wish them luck with the paint selection and head home.